University of Scranton holds prayer service for Las Vegas shooting victims

by Jade Jarvis

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SCRANTON (WOLF) -- Songs, prayer, and solemn silence.

Dozens of students and staff at the University of Scranton, dedicating time and prayer this afternoon to the victims of the Las Vegas mass shooting.

Emily Errickson is a junior and works in the Campus Ministries office.

She says the shooting hit home for her and many others in at the University after seeing videos and photos on TV and social media.

“Its one thing to think about the tragedy, but seeing it and feeling like you’re witnessing it firsthand was a whole ‘nother experience,” Errickson said.

She says the distance can make things tough for people who want to lend a helping hand, so today’s prayer service is a way to show support.

“This type of tragedy – a lot of people may feel helpless so coming together in prayer and remembrance of the tragedy that happened I think is really important for us as a campus.”

Dr. Helen Wolf, Executive Director of Campus Ministries, says the university is aware of one student from Las Vegas and has checked on her.

Fortunately, her family is okay.

But even if their community wasn’t personally touched by the tragedy, they would still step up in solidarity…

“This a moment where we really need to think about – we need to think about how we can support each other because it’s a really, really difficult thing to process. One terror attack after another in many people’s mind, this is how they’re viewing it, so we really need to think about how we can support each other through this,” Wolf said.

After the service, students, staff, and anyone else attending were invited to pick up prayer cards – each printed with a name of one of the 59 people who died in the shooting.